Session 13

ByThe party decided unanimously to descend the step-like cascade of waterfalls and pools to get to the jungle below. Mischief rode on Sylas's shoulders, as she was being swept away by the current otherwise.

It was refreshing to have something of a shower on the climb down, but Helena apparently doesn't enjoy getting wet.

Around halfway down, the party discovered a small cave behind one of the waterfalls, and something red glinting inside. Trance wanted absolutely nothing to do with any more caves, so Sylas and Mischief opted to go in together to investigate. They saw a pile of skulls, and several crawlies skittered away as they came near. Just as Sylas was reaching for the shiny object, a large centipede reared up from the pile and hissed menacingly. Reacting quickly, Sylas sliced the thing's head off, and its body crawled back in among the skulls. He then cautiously stuck one of his scimitars into the inert body of the centipede, and lifted it out. He shouted out to Trance, asking if she could cook it, and she affirmed. It was decided to keep the fresh meat for later. They also found a large ruby, which was the glittering object.

Standing on the same shelf as the small cave, the party assessed the view, marking in which direction the large tree was, as that's where they had decided to go.

Once on the ground, the party followed the river, and Umi was simply transfixed with the running water. She had never seen anything like the waterfalls and rivers here. They turned to take further into the trees, when suddenly loud hooting and deep thumping was heard. Fruit was pelted down on Trance and Alarac. This enraged Trance as she hates fruit, and she had only just gotten the first real shower of her life.

The party was soon menaced by a bishaten and its entourage of young blangos.

The group defended themselves against the troop of threatening primavians, casting, slashing, and shooting. Trance was out for blood in vengeance of her now sticky clothes and fur, and slashed out the throat of the blango attacking Alarac, splattering herself with gore. Licking the blood from her lips, a change seemed to come over her, and she raked the claws of her free hand viciously down her sword arm. Her sabre glowed red, and she attacked the next closest beast, slicing it with the necrotic aura. This barbaric tactic continued while the rest of the party was too preoccupied to notice. Soon, the great bishaten was flanked and bloodied, and it lashed out with its pawlike tail, brushing Alarac, hitting Sylas's radiant shield, and striking Trance dead-on. As it swung again, it knocked Alarac down, and bludgeoned Trance despite Sylas attempting to shield her. Near death, she clawed at her own throat to activate her magic sword, and drove home fiery poison with the necrotic infection, into its veins. With a few more strikes of bullet and ice, the creature fell dead, and its young fled into the trees. Trance began to stagger after them, but the magic had drained from her bloody ritual, and she collapsed to the grass, painting it red with mingled blood. She deliriously stroked the grass next to her, streaking the blades crimson. Alarac laid-on hands, and mended her wounds to the point she could stand.

Now, the party assessed the fresh corpse to decide what to do with it. Alarac went to loot its "fruit pouch," and Trance walked around it trying to decide how best to start skinning it.

Session 14

It was decided that the dead bishaten was too much trouble to skin. Trance rationalized leaving the corpse for the jungle, as it has attacked them first, and was therefore technically not prey. Sylas noted the stench coming off the beast, and Helena remarked: "No worse than Trance stinks," in a condescending tone. Trance gasped, taking this very personally, completely forgetting she was covered in fermented fruit pulp and congealing blood. She muttered and swore at Helena, then turned a cold shoulder on her.

Alarac took pity, offering her one of the orange fruits, as Trance was still quite injured. She reluctantly took it, cutting a hole in the top of the drupe, and sipping at the slush inside. Realizing it was alcoholic in nature, her eyes widened, and she gulped the rest down greedily. She finally found a fruit she likes.

The party set off toward the large tree, Helena and Sylas slicing away at foliage in their path. Upon reaching it, the group decided to poke around a bit. Trance, gazing enraptured at the tree, began chanting prayers and singing hymns, smoothing her hand pads along the bark. She turned and started to ask Helena for permission to go searching for herbs or fruits, but stopped herself, flattening ears and lashing tail. She turned instead to look for Sylas. He was just passing by as she did, and she was startled into gasping and hopping in place.

Regaining composure, she asked his permission to go foraging. He consented, if a bit confused, and also pressed the importance of not wandering far, to the point of sounding a bit overbearing. Trance insisted she would be fine. Thus, everyone set about exploring on their own for an hour.

Alarac chose this time to sun himself and take a nap with Guncat. Helena and Mischief climbed among the strange, arch-like structures of the roots. Sylas and Umi walked around the base, finding an old stone altar among the roots. Trance discovered a cluster of sticky yellow mushrooms, gathering them into a cloth to put in her medicine pouch.

She came upon Sylas and Umi, instantly fascinated with the altar. They asked if she could tell anything about it, so she ran her sensitive pawpads along the exposed surface, sniffing deeply, mouth open to expose her Jacobson's organ. She could feel shallow cuts in the stone, as well as detect the scent of very old blood. She told the others that this was a place where offerings were prepared for the tree. Her description led Sylas to offer the word "sacrifice," and Trance noted this new addition to her Common vocabulary.

Sylas, noting the reverence with which Trance regarded the altar, decided to use a scimitar to cut his own thumb, and smear a bit of blood on the altar. Trance smiled at this, nodding in approval.

When the party rejoined at the base of the tree, they discussed what to do next. Trance, of course, wanted to climb the tree. She clawed at it, leaving deep grooves. This confused Helena, who asked why she would harm the tree if it was sacred to her. Trance assured her it was not harmed, and the scratching was a mutual blessing. Helena remarked that a tree this size would make an epic ship. Trance objected strongly: "Not to be chopping down. Is sacred. Could not if you wanted." Deeply offended by the mere suggestion.

She started to climb the tree, and Sylas followed. Trance was surprised he decided to join her, and was further surprised at his deftness in climbing. He made it to a wide bough halfway up before she did, and she smiled at him, nodding approval. "I am impressed that a jetwi'jiri can climb so fast without the claws."

"Well, we get along fine without them for everything else."

It was then that they heard loud snoring above them on the opposite side of the tree. Trance placed a finger to her lips, looking wide-eyed at Sylas. He nodded, and she crept silently closer to the sound. Sleeping in a nest in the crook between two boughs was a bizarre creature, all orange and yellow fur. It had a simian body with large, flaplike ears and a trunk. It was sleeping deeply, but it was blocking their only way up the tree.

Trance climbed back quietly to tell Sylas she saw a "big monkey with leaf-ears and a snake on its face."

He had to get a look for himself. Without waking it, he peered at it as well. He returned, and they began discussing their next action. Sylas wanted to keep climbing, but Trance wanted to go back down.

While they were bickering, down below on the ground, the rest of the party heard rustling in the bushes around them.

Sylas's and Trance's arguing reached a loud enough volume that it almost woke the beast, causing a pause in its snoring. They clamped hands over their mouths, holding their breath. The snoring resumed, and they breathed silent relief. Sylas used a spell to project his whisper directly into Trance's ear. She jolted in surprise, ear flicking, remarking that it tickled. Conversing magically, they finally agreed to continue up the tree, leaping to grasp the bough above the creature without waking it.

Down below, Mischief fired a warning shot. Trance and Sylas froze. The creature roused, looking around, then looked directly into Sylas's eyes. It began hooting and swaying, large ears flapping over its dinner-plate-sized eyes, and it beat its chest with long-fingered fists.

Sylas took this opportunity to cast an explosion next to the beast, blowing it off its nest. Now intimidated, the creature hung below its nest, whimpering.

Down below, two bishaten burst from the greenery, charging the rest of the party. They drew weapons and defended themselves. When Sylas heard the second shot, he used his communication spell to ask Helena what was happening. She shouted back the situation, and Sylas turned to Trance, telling her to keep climbing upward. She protested, he insisted. He then leapt from the tree, free-falling. Trance began clawing her way down the tree, sliding down the bark with her claws. As she passed the creature, it made warning noises, but she only hissed at it dismissively. It flung blue mucus from its trunk, splattering her and poisoning her with its toxicity. She continued her rapid descent, sputtering and nauseous.

Down below, poor Mischief kept misfiring and breaking her guns, and had to sit behind cover to hastily repair them. Thirty feet above the ground, Sylas cast another spell, winking out of existence and appearing safely on the forest floor. He joined in the fight and helped ward off the bishaten.

Just as the beasts were driven off, Trance slid slowly to a stop amidst the group. She swayed on her feet. "The monkey-snake sneezed on me and now I don't feel so good... I should have listened to you, Rish'safiit. Urada. I need to lie down..."

Sylas rushed to her, fussing over her and prestidigitating the mucus off her. She felt marginally better, looking up at him with weary gratitude.

She turned to Alarac, asking if he might part with another orange fruit. He graciously offered his last one, and she drained it with relish.